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Hall, Gainesville see one school each miss AYP
Educators expect retests will boost status later this year
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Official “Adequate Yearly Progress” results show all but one Hall County school and one Gainesville school met AYP under No Child Left Behind standards.

Local schools are some of the more than 79 percent of schools statewide that made AYP this year — a 10 percent jump over 2008, according to the state Department of Education. The department reports big gains in elementary and middle schools, where the percentage of elementary schools making AYP jumped 13.4 points and the percentage of middle schools making AYP jumped 10.4 points.

While the state Department of Education reports 32 of Hall County’s 33 traditional schools met AYP, the system as a whole did not meet AYP. Hall County's Chicopee Woods Elementary and Gainesville Middle School are the local schools that did not meet AYP this year.

Hall schools Superintendent Will Schofield said based on May retest scores, he expects all 33 schools and the Hall County school system will meet AYP in the state’s final AYP determinations, which include summer retest scores and summer graduates, to be released this fall.

Schofield said largely because the system’s graduation rate is at about 74 percent — 1 percent below the required 75 percent high school graduation rate — the system as a whole did not meet AYP in the initial determination.

The state-defined graduation rate standard was raised from 70 percent last year to 75 percent this year, according to the state Department of Education.

About 50 Hall County high school students are finishing course work or retaking portions of the Georgia High School Graduation test this month and the outcome of their work could put Hall County over the line to meet AYP system wide, Schofield said.

And with scores from Criterion-Referenced Competency Test retakes included in the second AYP determination, Schofield said he expects Chicopee Woods Elementary to make AYP.

“Our calculations show with retests, all (33 schools) will make it,” he said.

Gainesville schools met AYP as a system, but Gainesville Middle School did not meet AYP in the initial determination.

Gainesville schools Superintendent Merrianne Dyer said a handful of special needs students’ summer retests could boost Gainesville Middle into AYP status for the second AYP determination this fall.